Dan Yim

Office: AC 304
Ext: 6485
P.O. Box: 96
E-mail: dyim@bethel.edu

Academic Degrees

Ph.D., University of Southern California

Short Biography

As an undergrad, I wanted to study law and make a heap of money. One of my friends suggested that I take a couple of philosophy classes, and so I did. My first philosophy class was a course in formal logic, taught by a philosopher from Austria who barely spoke English. That class was really good. My second class was a course on moral philosophy, taught by a philosopher who thought that there was no such thing as moral knowledge. From then on I was hooked. Those classes ensured that I would neither be a lawyer nor rich. I went on to graduate school near my home, and now I'm living in Minnesota after having lived in southern California my whole life. The faculty at Bethel told me that I would enjoy the warm winters here.

Areas of Interest

My interests include early modern philosophy (Descartes through Hume), metaphysics, epistemology (especially traditional questions about the structure of justification), and the curious, lasting power of utilitarian moral philosophy.

Current Work

I just completed a paper on John Stuart Mill's utilitarian arguments, and that paper is now forthcoming in The British Journal for the History of Philosophy.

On the back burner, I've had a paper responding to the thesis that for Locke, primary qualities can be attributed to sense contents. I think I'll start working on that again. Also, I've been picking away at a paper that argues that for Locke, there is no real distinction between primary and secondary qualities, that Locke is actually a quality-monist.

Classes Taught Spring 2008

Philosophies of Race and Gender
History of Philosophy: Modern and Contemporary
Western Humanities IV